July E-News: Business growth & restoring the middle-class dream

Date Published: 07/30/2014

Author: Growth & Justice

As the summer heats up with political debate, Growth & Justice is playing a constructive role, making the case that big breakthroughs in public policy can reduce racial and economic inequality, build human capital, and promote business growth. Here are some highlights.

Dane Smith appeared on WDSE-TV’s Almanac North to discuss how smart public investments help boost business growth. This appearance followed our recent commentary, For business, grass is greener — here, which was picked up by statewide media outlets. The column cites a new report praising Minnesota’s outstanding rankings in both economic competitiveness and improving socioeconomic conditions.

Minneapolis will soon host The National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual Legislative Summit, where legislators and staff from across the country will “tackle critical problems and find solutions that work.” As a preview to the event our latest Capitol Report op-ed, Finding the framework for restoring the middle-class dream, discusses the mounting interest in developing a more coherent middle-class policy agenda.

A recent Harvard Business School paper headlined Reinventing the local education ecosystem analyzes the Strive Together network, which aims to improve educational and economic outcomes through community collaborations. Take a look at our June 12 Capitol Report column to learn more about how communities in Minnesota are reinventing their own education “ecosystems” to close attainment gaps by income and race.